Chapter 3187
On March 31, 1657 in the Haihan calendar, Hangzhou, Jinmen rushed to the west of the city.
Yongjinmen was built during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was named after it was said that a golden bull appeared in the West Lake next to it.
Perhaps because of this good fortune, Yongjinmen gathered many government offices in Hangzhou, such as the General Office, the General Office, the Weaving Bureau, the Government Office, the Chief Secretary, the Salt Transport Department, etc., all concentrated in this area of the city.
However, after Haihan took over Hangzhou, management authority in various fields was transferred to the management committee, and most of these official offices were given new functions.
The Chief Secretary's Yamen became the office of the Hangzhou Administrative Committee. The original government school was renamed Hangzhou No. 1 Middle School. The Weaving Bureau hung up its signboard as the Military Intelligence Bureau. As for the adjacent General Administration Bureau and the Metropolitan Administration Bureau, they were assigned to The city defense army serves as the headquarters.
After the Yangzhou salt merchants collectively defected to Haihan, the Salt Transportation Department, which managed the salt industry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, naturally had no use. However, Haihan did not use the Salt Transportation Department Yamen for other purposes, but left this place to During the Ming Dynasty, the diplomatic mission stationed in Hangzhou was located here.
The Yanyun Si Yamen is close to Yongjinmen, making it very convenient to enter and exit the city. It is only three or four miles away from the Haihan Government District, which is currently being built on the north side of West Lake.
Although the Ming Dynasty lost Hangzhou, there were still many Ming Dynasty people living and working in Hangzhou, so this official office with a new sign of "Ming Dynasty Embassy" is usually very busy and receives a large number of visitors every day.
However, starting last night, the roads around the embassy were suddenly blocked. At least one company of Haihan Army set up armed checkpoints at several intersections around the embassy, prohibiting people inside the embassy from leaving.
After Yue Shizong, the head of the embassy, was urgently summoned by Haihan officials, he closed the door tightly when he returned to the embassy and put up a sign saying it was temporarily closed.
By this morning, the gate of the embassy, which is usually crowded with people, was already empty. People going in and out of Jinmen took the initiative to walk around this place, fearing that they would be contaminated by bad luck.
According to the diplomatic tradition of the Ming Dynasty, foreign institutions such as embassies are usually in charge of the Etiquette Department and the Public Affairs Department.
For small places, the Department of Public Affairs will assign an eighth-grade pedestrian. For those with a slightly higher level, a seventh-grade person from the Etiquette Department will usually serve as the person in charge.
However, Hangzhou is obviously an exception, because Yue Shizong, who serves as the chief official of the embassy here, is a serious doctor in the Ministry of Rites and a fifth-rank official.
Yue Shizong's ability to take up this position that was valued by the court had a lot to do with his personal resume.
He was originally from Huzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang Province. He was a Jinshi in the tenth year of Chongzhen. He served as a county magistrate in Zhejiang Province and was later promoted to Honglu Temple in the capital. He worked his way up step by step from Si Cheng, Sicheng and Shaoqing, and then was transferred to the Ministry of Rites.
Whether it is his understanding of Zhejiang's local customs or his work experience in the diplomatic department, Yue Shizong's personal situation is very suitable for this position.
More importantly, his family took the initiative to sell off their property when Haihan took over Huzhou Prefecture and moved the family to the Ming Dynasty's ruling area. This was regarded by the court as a sign of loyalty.
Serving as the head of the embassy in his capacity is definitely considered a low-level position, but it also highlights the importance of this position. If he can achieve some outstanding results during his tenure, it is not impossible to promote him to Minister of Rites after returning to the capital.
After Yue Shizong took office, the diplomatic relations with Haihan were managed fairly well. He had several regular formal meetings with Shi Diwen, the governor of the East China Sea Region, every year, and the relationship between the two countries gradually eased.
Haihan's move of the capital to Hangzhou was bad news for the Ming Dynasty, but for Yue Shizong personally, it was not necessarily a bad thing. The Hangzhou Embassy used to be just one of the many diplomatic missions sent by the Ming Dynasty to Haihan. It was not much different from the embassies in Jinzhou, Dengzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and other places. Even if Yue Shizong was hired with a high ranking, it was still inferior to the Sanya Embassy. up a level.
But after the capital was moved, the importance of the Hangzhou embassy immediately caught up with the Sanya embassy, and Yue Shizong's status would also rise accordingly, becoming an important figure in the diplomatic field of the Ming Dynasty.
Haihan is going to hold the 30th anniversary celebration of the National Day in Hangzhou and announce the decision to move the capital. This is really a humiliation for the Ming Dynasty, but for Yue Shizong, who was invited to attend the ceremony, it is undoubtedly an opportunity to consolidate the relationship with Haihan's high-level officials. opportunity.
Yue Shizong believed that if he could establish friendship with the senior officials of the Haihan Executive Committee, he might be able to monopolize Ming Dynasty's diplomatic affairs towards Haihan in the future.
But the plan was not as fast as the change. On the day the Executive Committee arrived in Hangzhou, an assassination took place against the Executive Committee. What's even more terrible is that Haihan officials informed Yue Shizong that the assassin turned out to be a member of the factory guard sent by the Ming Dynasty.
This news was a bolt from the blue for Yue Shizong. He really couldn't understand why the imperial court would use such a third-rate method of self-destroying the Great Wall when the situation was improving.
Therefore, Yue Shizong did not accept Haihan's statement at first, thinking that there might be something fishy about the matter, at least the identity of the assassin had yet to be verified.
However, Haihan's subsequent reaction clearly did not agree with his justification.
The armed blockade of the embassy and the prohibition of embassy personnel from leaving are undoubtedly hostile measures. And Yue Shizong finally realized that Haihan's attitude towards this matter was no joke. Once the situation got out of control, the matter might escalate into a more serious conflict.
After he returned to the embassy last night, he immediately convened a meeting of his staff to discuss countermeasures. But the meeting lasted until morning, and there was not much substantive progress.
"Haihan's statement is a serious slander against our Ming Dynasty! No matter what, we cannot let the other party believe such an argument!"
This was one of the few keynotes that was set during the meeting. Yue Shizong knew that once the Ming official's responsibility in the incident was confirmed, the Haihan people who took advantage of it would never end the matter easily.
But now Haihan has blocked the embassy. This action obviously has the intention of continuing to ferment the situation, which is by no means good news for Yue Shizong.
The only thing he can do now is to use his status as a diplomat to request a meeting with senior officials of the Executive Committee and lodge a complaint against the investigation and trial of this case in person.
But when he saw the newly released Donghai Times delivered in the morning, he was suddenly struck by lightning - the prominent news headline on the front page was actually "News: All the Ming gangsters who intended to assassinate our country's political figures have been arrested"
Yue Shizong knew that Donghai Times would determine the content of each page one or two days before the publication date before it could be typed and printed. But the assassination that happened yesterday actually appeared in the newspaper today. This is not like the newspaper's usual practice. It was obvious that the original content was temporarily adjusted and the assassination report was added overnight.
Whether this was due to the newspaper's high efficiency or someone else's instructions, Yue Shizong could more or less guess.
The trial of the assassination case has not yet ended, and such a title is obviously to place the accusation on Daming first. Once the people accepted this view and formed a one-sided public opinion, it would be very difficult for Yue Shizong to clear his name for Ming Dynasty.
(End of chapter)